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Superman's Replant - 180l - Crypt's Causeway

Beautiful shot.

Doesn't look like whitespot to me, just like a lens aberration, but I'm sure you'll have a look and check them out.

Tank's coming on great (early days though!)

All the best,

Mark
 
So week 2 update...

Firstly, I must start with the clarity of my water. I wouldn't like to say that Purigen was the pure cause but the water clarity has certainly improved since I added 200mls of it into my external filter. The 200mls was added so that it would fit in with my JBL Cristal Profi e1500 external filter.

All fishes are doing fine, with the pencils out and about around the wood and I hardly see my Ottos now as they're in amongst the plants.

Talking of plants, (seen as this is ukaps!) they seem to be doing well.
There has been some crpyt melt this week, nothing of epic proportions, but some to comment about. These were all picked out when spotted and then siphoned up.
Throughout the tank, new crypt growth continues (TICK!) and some of the mosses are starting to show new shoots.
The anubias is growing new leaves and the roots are attaching to the wood.
There has been large growth in the Frogbit, I had to cut some of the leaves half way through the week as they had holes in them. Some of the roots are nearly half way in the tank already!

Unfortunately, there was a white fuzz growing over the wood in patches. So I had to wipe those off, hopefully it wont come back if I clean up any I see. I guess it was just some bacteria.

On another sad note, two of my nerite snails seem to have died - unsure why. I saw one upside down who couldn't get himself on his foot again. So I popped him the right way up but he's not moved since. Plus, another hasn't moved for days.

I think I might of found out why every snail I introduced into my tank died fairly quickly. As I add in large amounts of nitrate through dry dosing and then my tap has 28ppm of Nitrate. I read on another thread that snails are poisoned at 120ppm and so at days of having dosing the concentration could get passed that level. Given that Nitrate is also created through the nitrogen cycle. So I might see how much I can reduce my dosing of 12g of KNO3 three times a week.

So summary, everything's going good still. TICK! Lets hope it continues.

No photos this week sorry.
 
Superman said:
I think I might of found out why every snail I introduced into my tank died fairly quickly. As I add in large amounts of nitrate through dry dosing and then my tap has 28ppm of Nitrate. I read on another thread that snails are poisoned at 120ppm and so at days of having dosing the concentration could get passed that level. Given that Nitrate is also created through the nitrogen cycle. So I might see how much I can reduce my dosing of 12g of KNO3 three times a week.
I had similar problems with shrimp when I was dosing heavily, since I'm using an all in one solution I did wonder if it could be the copper in the traces rather than the nitrate... either way I dropped my dosing and kept on top of the water changes and the fatalities stopped.
 
Egmel said:
Superman said:
I think I might of found out why every snail I introduced into my tank died fairly quickly. As I add in large amounts of nitrate through dry dosing and then my tap has 28ppm of Nitrate. I read on another thread that snails are poisoned at 120ppm and so at days of having dosing the concentration could get passed that level. Given that Nitrate is also created through the nitrogen cycle. So I might see how much I can reduce my dosing of 12g of KNO3 three times a week.
I had similar problems with shrimp when I was dosing heavily, since I'm using an all in one solution I did wonder if it could be the copper in the traces rather than the nitrate... either way I dropped my dosing and kept on top of the water changes and the fatalities stopped.
Thanks for noticing that I meant SHRIMP rather than SNAIL!
 
Weekly update...

Everything's going well, had to remove some nerite snails due to death but have replaced those two with 5 Staghorn Nerites.
Plants are continuing the grow and have had a bit of a rearrange to clump similar crypts together.
I've also removed my moss as it wasn't growing and replaced it with two large pots of Microsorum Pteropus (Java Fern). My wood continues to get a white growth and did take it out for a day to boil but some is still coming back - any ideas?

Today, I added some Alternanthera Reineckii 'Pink' (Roseafolia) after it looked fab and I also had a space behind my wood after the rearrange. So got one pot and there was loads in, so has filled the space!

Anyway, all going swimmingly and after adding my Java Fern, I think it's made everything look a bit better. IMO it gives it something that stands out.

So the photos:
20081204002.jpg


20081204004.jpg


20081204006.jpg


Welcome comments, suggestions and anything else.
 
Looking good! The only suggestion that I have is that at the moment it sort of looks a bit like two seperate tanks. The left side looks kind of neat and low whereas the right side looks more jungle-like and overgrown if that makes sense? I'm sure it'll look better when grown in though.
 
I do know what you mean, I'm trying to find something to go on the left hand side, given that, I do want to give some swimming space for my harlequins to play in. So maybe nothing a bulky on the left hand side.

I'm enjoying things more now, playing with things to get things just right and I'm sure it'll never actually get "just right"!
 
I think once it grows in the divide will look quite natural, like in the savannah where you get small patches of trees and bush in the middle of the desert, or woodlands where you get small clearings.

I'm liking this a lot now, the java fern does make a big difference.
 
Right, so time for another update.

After the TGM demo day where managed to leave with a pot of Microsorum Pteropus and two pots of Echinodorus Quadricostatus (after seeing it in their display tanks).
In addition, I also got a loads of toxic cuttings from John Starkey on the way home on Sunday. Therefore, last night, I had a replant in my tank to try and clump all of the same types of crypts together and try and give it a bit more order and more fuller look. I think I've managed to achive this.

Without going into details, I had to buy some more fish to replace my harlequins with some Celestichthys margaritatus (Celestial Pearl Danios / Galaxy Rasboras). Whilst I understood that they don't shoal as nicely as my harlequins, I fancied a different type of fish. Plus, with my aquarium going to be turned into a jungle style, swimming space for harlequins is going to get more and more limited - plus the LFS didn't have any Harlequins in! I also wish to attempt to breed the c. margaritatus in the future due to their status in the wild. I love the way they pop in and out of the plants now and again and sometimes they venture out, especially at feeding time.

This is it now, I'm not getting anything new for this for months, so will leave it to see how it all grows in.

So photo time, I think I've labeled the plants correctly, but I have so many crypts, that I might of miss labeled them - please correct me as I'd like to create a Crypt Index in the plants section. So any help naming the crypts would be great!

Tank shot
20081216001.jpg


Wood arrangement
20081216004.jpg


Right side
20081216005.jpg


Left side
20081216012.jpg


Staurogyne sp.
20081216006.jpg


Abubias var nana
20081216007.jpg


Crypt. Parva
20081216008.jpg


Crypt. wendtii "Tropica"
20081216009.jpg


Echinodorus Aquadricostatus
20081216010.jpg


Crypt. wendtii "Green"
20081216011.jpg


Crypt. (not sure!)
20081216015.jpg
 
Starting to look good now the plants are filling in a little. The wood is still a little distracting but the fern will start to hide it I should think.

The only thing I find sticks out is the front where it looks like a showcase for a few plants at the moment. Maybe because of the new plants you've added.

This should look great in a couple of months though. Keep up the hope.

AC
 
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